I'm so mad at James Carville

[Happyhippychick]

I hope this isn't considered a violation of the rules but I am still, several days later, absolutely furious with him. I saw him on election night and he was such a downer, talking about how this isn't going to be a blue wave but we would do okay. He looked and sounded completely depressed and he took all of the wind out of my sails on election night. I was texting back and forth with various friends who sounded just as depressed.

Now we see that he was 100% wrong and I haven't heard boo out of him saying that he should probably apologize and hang it up.

I just feel that I personally made such an effort with canvassing and calling and writing post cards (as well as millions more of you) and to turn on the news and hear that it wasn't good enough has me still angry all of these days later.

That is all.

[Greybnk48]

1. He had a similar effect on me as well!

I trusted his assessment and even went to bed, only to miss the news that Scott Walker lost in Wisconsin!!!

I'm really pissed about this too and will never trust him again. Shame on MSNBC or anyone for bothering with him. He's done.

[JaneQPublic]

13. He no longer deserved our trust after he did this...

...on mid-term election night in 2002, when Dems lost seats.

[DownriverDem]

26. Oh please

Lots of folks were saying it wasn't a blue wave. I don't dismiss folks just because they are wrong.

[barbiegeek]

67. Exactly! Leave James alone

Give James a break. He is retired. He also worked his butt off for the dems for decades.

[certainot]

69. he also said it's the "economy, stupid", even tho talk radio was kicking our ass

and still does

[olegramps]

31. He doesn't have any relevancy anymore. He is history.

I consider him to be in the same category as the has-been politicians such as Sanctimonious Santorum. They no longer have anything of value to add to the conversation. People like Carville and Roe think that it is just a game to amuse themselves rather than the welfare of the citizens at stake.

[LittleGirl]

47. Isn't that the truth!?

I complain to CNN all of the time about them continuing to have Santorum on. His views are history. He needs to go away forever.

[justhanginon]

2. He's just another dumbass pundit. They are paid to say shit!

Doesn't matter if it is right or wrong as long as they keep talking. Always preferable if the can stir up the masses. A lot of them know no more than the average poster here on DU. Screwem!

[DownriverDem]

28. Disagree

Wow. Are you sure you are a Dem? If not, why are you here?

[justhanginon]

35. I am talking about Carville and Chuck todd etal.

I don't think they particularly help Democrats are or even accurate in many cases.
Pretty sure I am a democrat, I have been voting Democratic since the early fifties.

[MyNameGoesHere]

3. Shock and awe, blue wave

Meh. I would call it a blue flood. Slowly rising and consuming those repugs. The immediate gratification was not there. I prefer blue flood.

[flygal]

11. Yep! Especially what happened to WI, MI, and PA. all went REALLY BLUe and Reps can't win w/o

[DownriverDem]

29. Still

I don't think James needs these attacks just because he was wrong.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

71. That's a good way to put it.

I knew it was going to take weeks to get all the results - I even posted as much before the election.

I guess I got caught up and wanted instant gratification like everyone else.

[Polly Hennessey]

4. His time has passed.

He has always been a tad on the negative side. In my view, he is no longer a player. His opinions hold no weight.

[milestogo]

6. He and Donna Brazille should walk off into the sunset together, IMHO.

[FakeNoose]

22. Yep, he's not a leader any more, if he ever was one

He was red hot during the Bill Clinton years, but that seems like a lifetime ago.

[LakeArenal]

23. It is a lifetime ago. Another has-been seeking relevance.

[bullwinkle428]

5. He had a look on his face like his dog just died!!! I was just heartsick,

and was at the point of trying to prepare myself to go through a night like I had almost exactly 2 years ago.

[zipplewrath]

7. Overly focused

I tried to encourage the spouse not to even watch before about 9:00 pm. Yes, some of the earliest races didn't start out the way we wanted. And of course some "big" races weren't going so well (Beto/Gillum). But once the "wave" got started, it washed over most of the country. And as someone else has mentioned, it has really turned out to be more of a "blue flood" because some of the races took days to sort out, but they almost all went the democrats way. And even Texas was a better story that most saw at first. Yes, O'Rourke lost, but the "down ticket" was very blue.

Van Jones was playing Debbie Downer on CNN early on, but by 11:00 he was admitting that it was a better night than he first realized.

[irisblue]

8. I, too, am truly bothered by Dem political operatives telling us how poorly we'll do.

No point in fighting back, no point in demonstrations.
Do they become more autocratic and less Democratic as the $ rolls in/ builds up? Surely looks like it.

[secondwind]

9. Stop being mad at him, and move on. It's very cathartic.

[phleshdef]

10. He was in a better mode later in the night. I think he was just scared. Give him some slack.

[FSogol]

18. True. He cheered up about an hour later. People should remember, these shows aren't news, they

are shows about the news. Don't put so much stock in them.

[deancr]

36. Yes

He was on just as the Florida results were looking bad. I think he was reflecting the same sense of anxiety that I was feeling at that point and couldn't hide it. I'm no particular fan of James Carville, but yes, some slack.

[TuxedoKat]

37. Yes

I got worried when I saw him too. He looked so glum, but he was being honest about what he thought. I think when he saw what was happening in FL, he thought other results would be similar.

[Demonaut]

12. James lost his credibility years ago, the 2016 election sealed it for me

[mfcorey1]

14. Van Jones gave the same sour note. He said instead of a blue wave it ws more a

rainbow. Don't much care for Van.

[Afromania]

15. Its a form of PTSD for lefties I think. We've become used to the fix being in and it shows.

Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2018, 03:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Gop voters are liars, so the polls are questionable, the media feeds us bullshit narratives, the size of the gop voter block has been overestimated for so long that its become myth. It doesn't help when our "leaders" feed into it and instead of being a reassuring presence they quickly add to the doom and gloom.

[Hoyt]

16. In his defense, it was at a time where we lost Tennessee Senator, O'Rourke was behind, Nelson wasn't

kicking ass, etc.

He was probably like me. Knew we were going to take the House as a given, but got a bit greedy and wanted to take Senate and really kick trump in the gut. Later in the show, he came back more upbeat.

It was a good election for Democrats. Heck, when I went to sleep it looked like Karen Handel would be elected (as expected). Woke up the next day to see Lucy McBath won in a district that was red for decades having been Newt Gingrich and Tom Price's seat. That was huge.

But, yeah, Carville was a bit of a downer at that point.

[grantcart]

17. Also looked like Houses might be low 30s

It was a Big Wave, just slow.

[lark]

19. Watching him o MSNBC I felt exactly the same way.

Think he's been spending too much time with his radical rw wife and it's rubbing off on him.

[watoos]

32. Lol, you stole my post.

[UpInArms]

20. Two words ...

Mary Matalin

[LakeArenal]

25. 😳😱🤯 ghastly.

[rocktivity]

56. Oh, so he IS still "sleeping with the enemy."

rocktivity

[True Blue American]

21. Yes, I hear jim,too!

Turned him off,went to bed, woke a few hours later to find he was dead wrong.

[pnwmom]

24. It was even worse here, because voting was still going on.

I was afraid that he was going to depress turnout!

I don't care how depressed he was himself. He should have known better. Those were obvious red districts and not where we had been expecting any wins.

But yes, his attitude affected me, too. What a horrible night. And the first impression the media gave has stuck. Most Americans probably believe it wasn't a blue wave after all.

[packman]

27. I think Jim was still dealing with 2016 , as was a lot of us

It will take some more of that Blue Wave to wash over me to get those memories out of my head.

[Tarc]

30. I liked Carville back in the day, but he's old and over the hill, honestly

He's still fighting the Republicans like it's 1998. The game has evolved and changed drastically since then.

[Roadside Attraction]

33. I was a big Carville fan -- emphasis on WAS

I have two of his books, may be three, don't recall.

His time has past. I haven't heard an original thought from Carville in years.

[allgood33]

34. Consider whom he married.

[stopbush]

38. Rather than being mad at Carville or any pundit, ask yourself why YOU allow these people

to so influence your life that you end up depressed.

Seriously.

They are simply shooting the breeze, offering PASSING THOUGHTS for which there are no personal consequences to them should they be proved wrong.

Stop doing that.

[Go Vols]

48. +1

[tymorial]

51. +1

[FSogol]

60. Seriously. They are complaining that the opinion of a guy on TV didn't match

their opinion.

[Boomer]

73. This.

Carville was speaking to the moment, and the results at that point did not look good, but it was early in the evening and WE ALL KNEW THAT.

Why take one man's reaction so personally? That degree of upset is the OP's problem, not Carville's.

[TlalocW]

39. I don't want to be sexist

But remember who he's married to.

I've seen marriages where a year after the wedding, one of the spouses has completely changed and has a dead look in his or her eye, and doesn't say much more than, "Yes, dear," to the other. Carville hung on as long as he could, but even in the end, his spirit was broken.

TlalocW

[cynatnite]

40. He was hoping for a slam dunk out of Florida and Georgia...

and called it too quick. He really should come out and say just that. The wind came out of my sails, too, for a little while but as the night wore on we saw the wave come.

A lot of people felt that way without listening to Carville.

[Just a Weirdo]

41. He married a fucking Republican

He has lost all common sense. Therefore, he is not credible.

[oldlibdem]

46. How does their marriage work?

To be so different Ideologically and cohabitate?

[libdem4life]

49. Might ask the Conways...you know, Kelleyanne and "her husband"

They use the same horrid photo of him, looking askance to his left. Irritates the hell out of me.

[Buckeyeblue]

42. Pissed me off too

But then I realized that he is probably outside of the loop with today's political operatives. He's basically an old man they bring on to give a soundbite. And at times he can be funny.

Don't get me wrong, in his day, he was awesome. He could defend Bill Clinton's positions almost as well as Clinton. 1992 was pure genius (Ross Perot pulled as many Dems as R's).

He was also pretty good on some of the early political shows.

But his opinion is not well informed any longer.

[niyad]

43. james who???

[SoCalDem]

44. Has-beens like him still have to earn a living

They know what "works" for them.. Media types love to dust off Donna Brazile, Carville, and a lot of others who USED TO BE movers & shakers..

They all know the role they must play to keep getting invited..

Everybody's in an excited rah-rah mood, so of course there needs to be a "moderate" a Debbie Downer..someone who can inject a sense of dread into a long dramatic night..

Personally, I would love it if ALL counts (same day voting) were embargoed until there was at LEAST 85% of the count in..

And all early votes & mail in votes should be IN and verified BY election day..

If someone has the advance knowledge that they NEED an absentee ballot, surely they can drop it off or mail it with enough time to ARRIVE on or before election day.

Absentee ballots should be verified and tallied as they arrive..and the results embargoed.

Election day should be the DEADLINE..period..

That way there could be a numeric count of ALL ballots.. If someone ends up 15000 behind and there are 800 outstanding ballots, there is a lot less drama.

After all election day in-person votes are tallied, the absentee & early votes get added in..

All done.. Then the media reports..

[oldlibdem]

45. I thought the same thing...

He looked and sounded so depressed that something must be up with him. He's normally mormon happy, but just seeing him like this was sad.

[SunSeeker]

50. Yes, I've never been so disappointed in him.

First, it shows he's lost his edge, he no longer seems to have his finger on the pulse of the electorate. And he appears to have forgotten how long it takes to get final tallies from Florida and California, and all urban areas. Finally, it is now well established that Dems vote late into the day and/or send their absentee ballots at the last minute--they work, have families, getting to the polls is a burden for the poor, and there are far fewer polling stations in Dem areas per person compared to GOP areas. So, the Dem votes come in later, not right when the polls close. Rookie mistake by Carville, yet he is no rookie.

[murielm99]

52. I, too, let the talking heads

get inside my head. I was feeling scared and sick until quite a bit later on election evening.

Carville was not the only one who tried to minimize the blue wave. I heard someone call it more of a blue ripple, even the next day.

Funny thing, that. We are still winning.

[LisaM]

53. It was 538 that was the culprit, IMO.

Their fluctuating percentages were extremely unhelpful, especially since people think that downward trend will continue down, not bounce around as erratically as they had it.

I didn't have Carville on at all and watched Christmas movies for the first few hours based on the 538 nonsense, and then by the next morning, I started cheering up.

[Awsi Dooger]

68. 538 models are in their infancy

I knew that and mentioned it several times prior to election, day, but didn't realize it would also apply to the House percentage on election night.

It was going sharply downward, reaching below 40% at one point, and I assumed it was due to actual vote count in the midwest that looked much worse than expectation. Fortunately one of the 538 live bloggers wrote that the model was overreacting to many "Likely Republican" seats that had all fallen Republican in the East. That's no big deal at all because "Likely" means all but certain.

Once Nate saw the problem and corrected things in mid stream, then the math and the results made sense and got more positive.

If Carville saw that plunge below 40% I don't blame him for being less than enthusiastic. The House was everything and we had no idea 538's model would be that finicky.

[LisaM]

79. I think it hurt on Election Day 2016. I was petrified when Comey brought up the emails

11 days before the election. Before that, I'd been pretty confident, but then I got a gut feeling in my stomach. I remember getting on the elevator at my apartment building and chatting with someone about it, because I was so nervous and the techie guy was all like, "oh, don't worry, Hillary has a {insert current percentage} chance of winning". At that point, I realized it was a lost cause. People were watching election percentages like it was the stock market and in his case, assuming that everything was fine because it was over 50%.

[orleans]

54. i used to like him

then i decided he was a jerk (for good reason but i can't remember what it was)

i don't get cable anymore so i haven't seen him for years. good.

[rocktivity]

55. He's just mad because he's not pulling down those six- and seven-figure consulting fees anymore.

rocktivity

[jcgoldie]

57. Carville was watching the stuff out of Florida and having 2016 dejavu just like the rest of us

Give him a break.

[former9thward]

58. People needed to define what a "blue wave" was going to be Before the election.

I didn't see anyone do that with actual numbers. Once the election was over everyone has a different definition which is why some were happy and some were not.

[LeftInTX]

59. We did good, but it wasn't like the nasty Red Tide of 2010

In 2010: Republicans flipped 63 seats in the House. They flipped 6 US senators. They flipped 11 governors.

[California_Republic]

61. I saw that too

I saw that too

I was just starting to watch coverage that’s the first thing a caught “No blue wave”


What !? There were hardly any returns!

[Vinca]

62. He's married to Mary Matelin.If that doesn't make someone a downer I don't know what does.

[INdemo]

63. He is married to a Republican strategist and he is benefiting

from Trump's tax cut. The last couple election cycles he has sounded more like a Republican than a Democrat.

He has done well living off of his reputation for his gig with the Clinton campaign.
(He got a book deal out of it)
He didn't do anything for Hillary's campaign and I don't believe he was invited to.

So if you are disappointed with Carville..Don't be,,he is living off his reputation which ain't much except a book deal.

[Cicada]

64. Several hours in results did look bad, Carville pessimism was appropriate

First results were great but then a batch of bad results came in. Everyone left and right said Kentucky 6 was a bellweather, watch it to know the final results. Indiana Senate looked really bad. A few hours in the Republican was leading, a bad sign. I was following several races expected to be indicators and they were bad when Carville gave his gloomy opinion. But the Houston suburbs, the Dallas suburbs, started coming in, and the indicators turned the corner. Chicago suburbs lookin good!

[Boomer]

74. Exactly!

Personally, I don't want fake cheerleading and forced optimism. Tell me the facts. The facts at the start of the evening looked grim, then they got better.

Democracy is not for the faint of heart.

[Mr.Bill]

65. While I didn't like or agree with his comments at the time,

I do wonder if he might have helped the western states turn out and do so well.

[Demovictory9]

66. He hasn't tweeted since Nov 4th. maybe someone should check on him.

https://twitter.com/jamescarville?lang=en

[Iggo]

70. Other than the last couple of times he's poppped up in conversation here...

...I don't think I've seen him since the Clinton administration.

What's he up to these days?

(Just kidding. I don't care what he's up to.)

[budkin]

72. He instantly gave me flashbacks to 2016

And I turned off the TV completely.

[RandiFan1290]

75. He was also one of the PUMA punks in 08

The bitter whiners that couldn't get over that Hillary lost the primary to Obama.

[brooklynite]

76. So you're mad because Carville gave you an opinion you didn't like...

...at a time when Democratic gains weren't as obvious as they are now.

[Drunken Irishman]

77. He's human. I'm not a huge fan but he probably had 2016 flashbacks...

The initial results were discouraging. The Democrats were on their way to losing Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee by wider margins than the polls predicted. Couple that with the Florida results and I'm sure he was feeling like 2016 all over again.

[Mike Nelson]

78. He...

… did seem glum. I was wondering why he should reappear and act so sad... I guessed he'd seem exit polls and knew there was a big Trump win... I think he hangs out with Republicans too much. He should stay home and enjoy his wealth...